updated 10:35 pm EST, Mon December 6, 2010

Google's Rubin touts bloatware as Android positive

Unwanted, preloaded carrier software is an advantage for Android, the company's engineering VP Andy Rubin said Monday night at the D: Dive Into Mobile conference. When asked by Walt Mossberg about Google's refusal to ban "craplets," or apps dictated by the carrier and often unremovable, Rubin considered their presence a plus. He attacked those providing a consistent, clean experience, saying Windows Phone 7 was creating a "commoditized" world with its insistence on a familiar interface where Android's variety and mandatory carrier software were pluses, even if they created inconsistency.

"That's the nature of open," Rubin said. "That's actually a feature of Android."

He argued that the popularity of Android was tacit approval of its decision to allow this software, saying that strong sales were votes for its policies. It's not certain how long this would last, as the growth rate has been slowing in the past few months.

The statements more explicitly elaborate on Rubin's earlier defense, where he argued that letting carriers compromise the phones was a positive since it preserved the openness of the platform. Critics have argued that the statement is false since many Android phones now actively prevent users from making modifications. On certain phones, Verizon blocks Google search software to favor Microsoft's Bing, while even the usually stock T-Mobile G2 auto-resets the firmware to prevent modifications and needed extensive hacking to begin supporting custom software controlled by users.

Apple has historically had tighter control over iOS and has practiced the consistency that Rubin has disliked, but it has paradoxically given more choices in some cases, such as multiple default search engines. Rubin unexpectedly called the iPhone "pretty open" since most developers can easily get their apps approved. He also dropped his criticism of consistent interfaces when referring to Apple, considering the strictly controlled interface a plus.

"I think everybody is embracing the iPhone," he said. "Certainly they make great products... robust, solid, good user experiences... a lot of consistency across applications."

Microsoft was given a brief compliment for its "1.0" release, but returned to criticism of the OS and its underlying framework. It still had some original Windows Mobile code and was thus hampered versus Android and iOS, he said, which were started from scratch. Microsoft "didn't have the Internet in mind" with WP7's roots, Rubin added. He suggested that Microsoft could fare better by returning to the same policy that was widely credited with leading Windows Mobile to fail, by letting carriers and phone builders have more control over the interface. He admitted, however, that he wasn't necessarily the best to ask for predictions of success.

This guys drinking way to much coolaid

"Unwanted, preloaded carrier software is an advantage for Android, the company's engineering VP Andy Rubin said Monday night at the D: Dive Into Mobile conference. When asked about Google's refusal to ban "craplets," or apps dictated by the carrier, Rubin considered it a plus."

More Like Commode-itized

Open is closed.
Closed is open.
Apple's not open.
Apple's pretty open.
Consistency is bad.
Chaos is a feature.
Pretty open consistency is OK.
I think.
In some cases.
Like really successful ones.
I need more coffee.
And a few more shots.
Let the stimulants and the depressants fight it out.
This ought to be fun.
Again.
Get me back to the office.
I thought of another feature.

Yadda, yadda

Rubin is just a shill. Even for a shill, though, that's a pretty strained spin he puts on crapware. He doesn't really have a choice but to spin it that way, though. Just a tool.

"He argued that the popularity of Android was tacit approval of its decision to allow this software, saying that strong sales were votes for its policies."

How absurd can someone get? Android is only as popular as it is basically because the iPhone is only availble on AT&T. When the inevitable Verizon iPhone hits the scene, Android sales in the U.S. are going to be completely gutted. It won't demolish the platform, but we'll start to see a more, ahem, Apples to Apples comparison.

uhm yes craplets ARE a feature... good feature, ab

I'm in Japan right now and Android here is AWESOME.

ON my new Lynx 3D built by Sharp, I get:

oneseg (tv, ie not streaming over the net but the actual TV signal)
infrared (for transferring pics, email info, etc with other people's phones)
emoji (for writing cute emails to Japanese girls)
3D (glasses-free, for some oohs and aaahs at parties - tv, some apps, some games, I can even take pics in 3D...)
better camera
NFC compatible with Japan

So yeah Android is open and all that stuff added by the carrier/manufacturer is a good thing.

It'S too bad that in the US, the "value-added" stuff is actually hurting the phones (Bing on Verizon Android phones for example), rather than making them appealing to the local market (smartphones weren't popular much in Japan because they lacked the above STANDARD features available on "dumb" phones. Dumb phones that could also browse, email, navigate, view maps, use gps, etc).

So I'm glad Android is open and that Google isn't restricting too much what carriers and manufacturers can do, otherwise I wouldn't be able to enjoy a good smartphone here with all the apps I'm used to having AS WELL as enjoying the standard Japanese phone features. Now I can have both :)

As spin goes . . .

"Craplets are good for you" ranks with the most desperately embarrassing ones out there. Has he forgotten rule 6-a of spinmeistership? If forced to defend the indefensible, change the topic of conversation. Instead, from now on, everytime he tries to talk about Android people will always think of that day when he pronounced that "craplets are good for you".

@ Foe Hammer

@chefpastry

Who's arguing, chef?
I'm annihilating.

Will he/she/it be back? Of course. At least we all hope so. Because where else can the rest of us (pardon the upcoming play on an expression) get so many (don't say I didn't warn you) gut-wrenchying laughs (see, I told you so) for free?

hey rubin

Craplets are c***

I'm off contract right now and looking at phone options. This is precisely the reason I won't buy the G2 is because of all the pre-installed c*** that you can't uninstall. Waiting to see if the Nexus S is that way...how about the Samsung Vibrant?

Hey Wrenchy -

the problem with Android's idea of "open"...

Android makes their OS for manufacturers; Apple makes iOS for USERS. In a recent New Yorker article about ebooks, Tim O'Reilly said: “[Publishers] think their customer is the bookstore. Publishers never built the infrastructure to respond to customers.”

There needs to be at least a little control in there to exercise taste and consistency. As it is now, when you pick up an Android phone you never know if your old apps will run on it, if you'll ever get a system update, or even if the screen buttons will be in the same place from one phone to another.

And you say open is a feature? We've seen what happens when you trust people do whatever they want. It's called "MySpace" :P

craplets

The only difference between the two are that who decides on the apps. The carrier or the OS maker. So I guess everyone would be happy if Google pre-loaded a bunch of apps on their device, like Apple does.

And the pre-loaded apps on the iPhone are just as unremovable as they are on any system. You're stuck with useless stock and weather widgets, regardless of whether you can download 20 better ones.

Oh that's so wacky!

You can whiz on my leg and tell me it's raining. But there's just no excuse for mandatory Skype for android with Wifi functionality disabled. Android is great unless you've used any iPhone, ever. It kind of works and does most of what it should, usually, kind-of.
Google, like M$( Kin hee hee hee look at me! - I'm a phart-smone!! ), is still kind of riding the short bus in terms of overall customer experience with the droid.
I suppose Rooting your droid may help remove bloatware/crapps.
This guy with the defending crapware, good for a laugh anyway!

@iOS fans

All the coments here are funny, and show that your take your iOS goodness rather serious!

I love how i can modify my user experience on ANY Android device. I bet everyone of you all have the same interface, the same icons, the same everything... oh wait, you can change your backgroud.

Good luck with everyone's phone being the same. I don't like the being the same, sheep not for me.

I'll keep my customizable Android device.... don't bash what you don't know.. use an Android device for a month, customize it, then you will see... until then. Go to iTunes, buy some rehashed material..